arXiv subjects

Vincent Maillard

Publications and source records attributed to Vincent Maillard.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Spatial distribution of organics in the Horsehead nebula: Signposts of chemistry driven by atomic carbon

(Abridged) Complex organic molecules (COMs) are considered essential precursors to prebiotic species. While COMs were once expected to be efficiently destroyed under UV-irradiated conditions, detections in photodissociation regions (PDRs) have challenged this view. However, the mechanisms by which UV radiation contributes to their formation are still uncertain. Here, we present moderately resolved maps of simple and complex organic molecules at the UV-illuminated edge of the Horsehead nebula, obtained by combining ALMA and IRAM 30m single-dish observations at $\sim 15^{\prime\prime}$ resolution. We analyze the spatial distribution of species such as C$^{17}$O, CH$_2$CO, CH$_3$CHO, HNCO, CH$_3$CN, and HC$_3$N. By incorporating previous C$^{17}$O and C$^{18}$O single-dish data as well as PdBI maps of H$_2$CO and CH$_3$OH, we derive profiles of gas density, temperature, thermal pressure, and column densities of the organic species as a function of distance from the UV source. Our results show that most organic species$-$particularly H$_2$CO, CH$_2$CO, CH$_3$CHO, HNCO, and CH$_3$CN$-$exhibit enhanced column densities at the UV-illuminated edge compared to cloud interiors, possibly indicating efficient dust-grain surface chemistry driven by the diffusion of atomic C and radicals produced via photodissociation of CO and CH$_3$OH, as supported by recent laboratory experiments. The exceptions, HC$_3$N and CH$_3$OH, can be attributed to inefficient formation on dust grains and ineffective non-thermal desorption into the gas phase, respectively. Additionally, contributions from gas-phase hydrocarbon photochemistry, possibly seeded by grain-surface products, cannot be ruled out. Further chemical modeling is needed to confirm the efficiency of these pathways for the studied species, which could have important implications for other cold, UV-irradiated environments such as protoplanetary disks.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

Weak, extended water vapor emission in the Horsehead nebula

We analyzed archival Herschel observations of water vapor emission toward the Horsehead photon dominated region (PDR), along with supporting ground-based and airborne observations of CO isotopologues and fine structure lines of ionized and atomic carbon to determine the distribution and abundance of water vapor in this low-UV illumination PDR. Water emission in the Horsehead nebula is very weak and, surprisingly, extends outward beyond other PDR tracers such as $^{12}$CO or [CI] 609 $\mu$m, reaching as far out as [CII] 158 $\mu$m. We model the observations using a newly developed PDR wrapper that takes into account the geometry of this region. PDR modeling of the molecular and atomic lines studied here provides strong constraints on the thermal pressure, but not on the UV illumination. Maximum model line intensities %typically agree to within ~40\% with the observations. and spatial profiles are well reproduced, except for CO isotopologues, where the increase on the illuminated side of the PDR is steeper than observed. Water vapor abundance in the model reaches $3.6 \times 10^{-7}$ at $A_V \sim 3$ mag. However, the ground state $o$-H$_2$O 557 GHz line is systematically overestimated by the models by at least a factor of 7 for any values of the model parameters. This line has a very high optical depth and the emergent line intensity is sensitive to radiative transfer effects such as line scattering by water molecules in a low-density halo surrounding the dense PDR and the assumed microturbulent line width. A more accurate model of the water surface chemistry is required.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Dynamical effects of the radiative stellar feedback on the H I-to-H2 transition

The atomic-to-molecular hydrogen (H/H2) transition has been extensively studied as it controls the fraction of gas in a molecular state in an interstellar cloud. This fraction is linked to star-formation by the Schmidt-Kennicutt law. While theoretical estimates of the column density of the H I layer have been proposed for static photodissociation regions (PDRs), Herschel and well-resolved ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) observations have revealed dynamical effects in star forming regions, caused by the process of photoevaporation. We extend the analytic study of the H/H2 transition to include the effects of the propagation of the ionization front, in particular in the presence of photoevaporation at the walls of blister H II regions, and we find its consequences on the total atomic hydrogen column density at the surface of clouds in the presence of an ultraviolet field, and on the properties of the H/H2 transition. We solved semi-analytically the differential equation giving the H2 column density profile by taking into account H2 formation on grains, H2 photodissociation, and the ionization front propagation dynamics modeled as advection of the gas through the ionization front. Taking this advection into account reduces the width of the atomic region compared to static models. The atomic region may disappear if the ionization front velocity exceeds a certain value, leading the H/H2 transition and the ionization front to merge. For both dissociated and merged configurations, we provide analytical expressions to determine the total H I column density. Our results take the metallicity into account. Finally, we compared our results to observations of PDRs illuminated by O-stars, for which we conclude that the dynamical effects are strong, especially for low-excitation PDRs.

astro-ph.GA↗